The general council will elect executive committee for the year 2017-18 and chalk out the strategies and actions for the problems of newspaper industry. The committee approved the Annual Report of the Secretary General for the year 2016-17 as well as Annual Accounts of the Society for the year 2016.

The APNS Executive Committee meeting, held under the chair of its president Sarmad Ali, appreciated the efforts of the office bearers and the role of Minister of State for Information in the long pending increase of government advertisement rates and payment of dues against devolved ministries.

The committee was apprised by the president on the proceedings of the PID meeting on proposed ABC automation proposals. The members expressed their concern over the proposed mechanism of ABC and recommended that the requirements of ABC should be restricted to information relating to circulation only and no additional information be demanded. They said introducing automation of ABC system, the lack of IT facilities in regional centres and capacity of regional publications should be kept in mind.

The members recommended that the linkage between the advertisement rates and ABC should be abolished which would encourage verifiable circulations. The committee was disappointed on the non-payment of dues of member publications and advertising agencies by the federal and provincial governments for the current year as well as the long outstanding dues against the federal government departments for which, the prime minister had already approved the summaries.

The members across the country also noted that the print share in the campaigns launched by the federal government was consistently decreasing, which has considerably slashed advertising in newspapers, causing survival issues for smaller and regional publications.

The executive committee also approved the reports of Regional Press Committee, Medium-Sized Metropolitan Publications Committee and Women Publishers Committee and advised the chairpersons of respective committees to implement the recommendations of the members.